Is there a listing of sites that show you where you can earn them? (not from mining but maybe from watching ads or other things)

what does the bot have to do? 33% of winnings doesn't make much sense if it loses playing martingale (as some have pointed out).

I don't think any specific news has caused the hike, but rather a combination of people from all over have recently started buying. Any press is good press as so many people still have not even heard of bitcoins. As the masses start to adapt the price is going to go up.

If the regular world economies start to collapse and people lose faith in those then there is no limit to how large the value of a bitcoin can get. $1000 could very well be around the corner.